Leadership Development and Organization Development
Free library of articles and resources on a variety of areas of leadership, management and building organizations. (both non-profit and for-profit articles). Second, here is a link to Leader to Leader Institute (formerly the Drucker Foundation) which also has free articles and resources.
Read MoreWould the REAL church please stand up – Confusion in the Kingdom of God
[This is a reflection on my San Diego Reader Column where I visited a different church each week for 2005 and part of 2004.]
One theme that developed as I spoke with different pastors/priests for a variety of denominations and faiths is that each one was convicted that their expression was the true expression of faith. Catholic Priests had a sense of confidence that “theirs was the true church that traced itself back to Peter and Jesus Christ.” The Mass was the place where the Eucharist was served and followers needed to access the grace offered here. Yet, other splinter Catholic groups (Byzantine and Old Catholics) were quick to point out their legitimacy in relation to the “ROMAN Catholic” traditions.
On the other side of the world, Eastern Orthodox congregations (visited two, one Greek and the other Antiochian) were most vocal in their position as ‘truest church’. ["I believe the [Greek Orthodox Church] is the true church, but I’m not going to rub it in anyone’s face,” said Nazo Zakkak, an altar boy at St. Gregory of Nyssa Greek Orthodox Church.]
Both these groups (Catholics & Eastern Orthodox) often citied the amount of denominations in the Protestant movement as an indictment against Evangelicals. “There are 20,000 some-odd denominations, any time an Evangelic has a minor doctrinal disagreement, they just go off and start their own church,” is a common comment about Protestantism.
Where does this leave us? How do we deal with the denominational divides? One comment is often, “In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty.” Yet an Orthodox Father pointed out that denominations aren’t even in agreement on what is essential or non-essential so how can their be unity. It seems like the church is in a mess but why does God allow such a divergent expression of faith amongst people who call themselves Christians?
Read MoreLast San Diego Reader 'Sheep & Goats' Article
Last week was my last San Diego Reader article for the Sheep & Goats column. Beginning in 2006, I am no longer writing the column. It’s been a great season over 2004-2005 to visit different places of faith and interview people to learn more about their experiences and what they believe. Here are a few of my favorites: (A few of my favorites are not online)
Anchor Point Church – an honest and open story of a church plant that closed it’s doors.
The Resolved – An opening line that created quite a controversy, “Beer is one of our core values”. (So much controversy the pastors wrote a letter to explain this sarcastic comment about church pragmatism.)
What’s NEXT? I’m excited about this transition because life has been crazy focusing on three different ventures (Kaleo Church, Monk Development and San Diego Reader). Here are the plans:
1. Become more full time at Kaleo Church. This is a big year for us as we really take a lot of the things that are functioning and move them to healthy reproducing ministries.
2. Launch Ekklesia in a big way the next two-months and continue to build a world-class application for churches to use the internet for the Kingdom.
3. Write creatively. Spend more time writing articles I’ve been putting off.
4. Begin Covenant Theological Seminary’s Master of Arts (Theological Studies) with an emphasis in contemporary culture.
5. Go on long walks with my wife.
6. Adopt a new child.
and more that I’m sure will be added soon….
Thanks for all of you who read the articles and provided feedback and encouragement.
Read MoreXXXchurch
(This is an article written for my weekly San Diego Reader column on spirituality and places of worship.)
Wally the Wiener, a 15-foot inflatable penis, stands erect behind XXXchurch’s “Erotica LA” booth. Wally is just one of XXXchurch’s attempts to get attention from the 40,000 pornography fans and stars at the convention. “We have to use outrageous methods to get people to pay attention,” said Craig Gross, a pastor, and one of the founders of XXXchurch. In 2002, Pastor Gross and Pastor Mike Foster founded XXXchurch to create porn awareness, accountability, and recovery to people inside and outside the church.
Pastors Foster and Gross have received a lot of attention because of their involvement in the pornography industry. “At the Erotica show, people are wondering why two pastors are here,” said Gross. “But this is exactly the place Jesus would go. He wouldn’t stand outside picketing the porn industry. He would want to meet these people individually.” This year, XXXchurch’s booth gave “Jesus Loves Porn Stars” T-shirts to porn stars. “We handed out 245 free T-shirts. This is a way for us to plant seeds with porn stars and help them get out of the industry,” said Gross. “We stay in contact with many of the porn stars to keep a dialogue going.” Last month, Trinity James was the first porn star to leave the industry through this campaign. “Trinity was living in Las Vegas and has been doing porn and legalized prostitution for four years. She realized that this is not something she can do any longer.” XXXchurch raised $14,400 to assist James’s transition, which included the cost of the move to Indiana and tuition to cosmetology school. Gross said he hopes this is the first example of many porn stars’ exodus out of the industry.
Full Article: XXXchurch
Read More8 things pastors need to know about e-ministry
A great article that lays out a case for proper usage of your website. Here are a few highlights:
1. Your target audience for church growth is Internet-savvy.
Most church growth comes from what we call the 18-to-18 range Äì people from 18 years old to families with 18-year-old children. This also happens to be the group with the highest Internet usage…..
2. Your Web site will be your “first impression” for many people.
(People) will often make their “first cut” shopping list before they ever come to town.
3. If you’re not on the Web, you don’t exist to many people.
A 20- or 30-something person is much more likely to use the Internet to find church service times than to look in the yellow pages or newspaper. Our informal surveys have shown that many young college graduates don’t even have yellow pages in their homes. My teenage daughter didn’t know theaters listed movie times in the newspaper Äì she gets them off the Web.
4. Seekers will visit your Web site before attending your services.
Savvy organizations are using the Web to educate visitors and encourage them to take the next step.
5. A whole generation exists that will seek “religion” online.
In his book Boiling Point, George Barna projects that 10 to 20 percent of the population will rely on the Internet for all of their spiritual input and output by 2010.
6. The Web site is too critical to be run by a volunteer.
7. You can’t afford a cheap site.
With a high percentage of your potential visitors viewing your Web site before they visit your congregation, you can’t afford a poor quality site. All the time and money you have spent building your congregation’s resources and reputation are worthless if people won’t visit the first time. Visitors are judging the values and programs of your church from your Web site.
8. People are viewing your current Web site right now.
(Read full article 8 things pastors need to know about e-ministry)
These cover a few of the reasons why a group of churches decided to build Ekklesia Systems. We have found it is far to important to have a well designed internet strategy to enhance the work of furthering the gospel in our cities. January is going to be a huge month for us…come back as we announce Ekklesia launching:
The Acts 29 Network
Imago Dei Community, Portland
Kaleo Church, San Diego
Desert Breeze Church, Los Vegas
New Life Presbyterian Church, La Mesa
Grace Church, San Diego
Eastridge Church, Clackamas
City View Church, Dallas
Bay Area Community Church
Life Song Church
and the list goes on…..
Kehillas Torah
(This is an article written for my weekly San Diego Reader column on spirituality and places of worship.)
“If someone at our synagogue becomes religious, don’t blame me. I just teach the Torah,” said Rabbi Baruch Lederman of Kehillas Torah. “I am passionate about helping people see the beauty of the Torah. I want to help raise them to a higher level of understanding and increase their acts of kindness to others. This is what life is all about. It’s about a relationship with your creator.” I asked Lederman about his relationship with God. “I pray and talk to God all the time. Life is one giant conversation with God. I love, revere, and fear God. It is very similar to how a child thinks about their parents.”
Fred Wolf, a member of the synagogue, said Lederman helped change his life. “In recent years, I’ve gone through a lot of trials. I went through a divorce with two children and a parent dying. It made me think about what is important in life.” Wolf said this process led him back to his Jewish roots. 
“I was struggling with the divorce. I entered a period of darkness and depression. Rabbi Lederman helped me out during this time. He was warm and open-minded. He doesn’t lecture people; he enjoys teaching people and letting them make their decisions for themselves. He doesn’t care where you came from; it’s where you are going. He is the most unorthodox orthodox rabbi I know,” said Wolf
Full Article: Kehillas Torah
Read MoreDrew Goodmanson
CEO of Monk Development creators of Ekklesia 360. Co-Founder of Kaleo Church where I served as Pastor for 8+ years and helped coach several church plants in San Diego. Co-Founder of the GCM Collective, President of the Board at the Center for Church Communication, Board Member of the Entrepreneurship Organization, Internet/Technology Advisory Chair at the Christian Leadership Alliance. Connect
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